1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a housing structure of electronic equipment having a display unit and an operation input unit.
2. Related Background Art
A lap-top wordprocessor or personal computer as electronic equipment of this type employs a structure wherein a display unit comprising a liquid crystal display device or the like, and a keyboard as an operation input unit are attached to an equipment main body. In a most popular structure, the display unit is arranged to be pivotal between a state wherein it obliquely stands up on the equipment main body (to be referred to as a tilt state hereinafter), and a state wherein it is folded on the equipment main body (to be referred to as a close state hereinafter). FIG. 3 shows such a conventional structure of an equipment.
The structure shown in FIG. 3 includes a display unit 1 comprising, e.g., a liquid crystal display device, a housing 2 for the display unit, a keyboard 4 as an operation input means, a housing 5 for an electronic equipment main body, and a PCB (printed circuit board) 6 provided with an electronic circuit of the electronic equipment main body.
The display unit housing 2 is arranged on the main body housing 5 to be pivotal about a shaft 3 as a fulcrum in directions of arrows c and e. The keyboard 4 is fixed to and supported on a plurality of bosses 7 projecting from the bottom surface of the main body housing 5, and is inclined downward from the rear side to the front side to improve operability.
In this structure, when the electronic equipment is used, the housing 2 of the display unit 1 is pivoted in the direction c to a position indicated by an alternate long and short dashed line in FIG. 3 to be set in the above-mentioned tilt state. In this state, the keyboard 4 is operated.
When the electronic equipment is not used, the housing 2 of the display unit is pivoted in the direction e to be set in the closed state indicated by a solid line. As a result, the overall structure can be rendered compact, and the display unit 1 and the keyboard 4 can be protected.
According to the structure shown in FIG. 3, however, since the keyboard 4 is inclined, the total height of the electronic equipment in the closed state requires the extra height corresponding to an inclination of the keyboard 4. In FIG. 3, the total height of the electronic equipment in the closed state 1 is indicated by A+.alpha.. A is the height of the electronic equipment when the keyboard 4 is horizontally arranged, and .alpha. is an increase in height due to inclination of the keyboard 4.
When the keyboard is inclined in this manner, the total height of the electronic equipment is increased, and it is difficult to obtain a low-profile electronic equipment. However, if the keyboard is horizontally arranged to attain a low-profile structure, operability of the keyboard is impaired.